Gordi On World Cafe

Gordi performs at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia for a WXPN Free At Noon concert.

Emma Silverstone
/ WXPN

Originally published on September 5, 2017 12:35 pm

In this session, we welcome Gordi to World Cafe. The Australian singer-songwriter just released her lush full-length debut, which she created while working her way through medical school. In fact, when we spoke in August, she was just a few weeks away from her final exams.

Gordi's music is what you might call "folktronica" — you rarely hear her voice without any sort of digital effect — but it sounds miraculously analog and human. It's a feel reminiscent of Bon Iver; they're labelmates, and Gordi sees Bon Iver as a sonic soulmate of sorts. You'll hear her cover a Bon Iver tune here, as well as a song by fellow Australian Courtney Barnett.

Both covers speak to Gordi's philosophy on writing her own original material: that no matter how much you dress a song up in production or electronic sounds, at its core it should be just as powerful when played on an acoustic guitar around a campfire. Lean in and listen closely to Gordi's live performance of her song "Heaven I Know" as she builds the mix from the ground up. Gordi starts by looping her whispered voice as she counts to three. Hear it now in the player above and watch her performance of "All The Light We Cannot See" in the VuHaus video below.